Home
by macytayyy
Summary: Home is a place. A city. A country. An apartment. A house. Or it's a favorite park bench. A place to go when you feel like your drowning. A place to find yourself again. For Oliver, he doesn't know where that is. For him, he always feels in over his head. For him, the best place he could think of is his bunker. When he's in over his head, that's what calms him down.


**Hi guys! Wow... it's been decades! I'm back, though! But this time... Arrow! I've been practically obsessed with the DC world lately- Flash, Arrow, you name it- I've watched it. **

**This is just a random thought that I had and wanted to share with you. Hope you enjoy!**

**P.S. I'm looking for prompts- Arrow, Flash, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Divergent- so please, please, please with a cherry on top send me some! I would be happy to get your ideas and write something fancy! **

**And as always, relax, read, and REVIEW! **

* * *

Home is a place. A city. A country. An apartment. A house. Or it's a favorite park bench. A place to go when you feel like your drowning. A place to find yourself again.

For Oliver, he doesn't know where that is. For him, he always feels in over his head. For him, the best place he could think of is his bunker. When he's in over his head, that's what calms him down. The salmon ladder. Sparring with Diggle. Watching Felicity work. Listening to Felicity ramble. That's where he finds comfort.

After finally defeating Slade Wilson, Oliver deposited him on his private prison in the middle of the East China Sea on the island of Purgatory. Against Oliver's wishes, Felicity came with.

Staring absentmindedly into the vast sea that surrounded the island, Oliver sighed. His life was filled with so many hardships, and it all started with the day he and his father left on the dreaded boat. Oliver often thought of what his life would be like had he not gone with his father. He liked to think that life would be better, and in someways it would. He knows that instead of being in a never-ending state of purgatory, he would be in his soft bed at home, rolling around in his bed sheets, but not because he was fighting the nightmares that plagued every waking and sleeping moment, but because he was sleeping with the new blonde bimbo that he had brought home that night. But then he thinks of the man he became, the people whose lives touched his, and then he feels blessed for his experiences, no matter how trying they were. Felicity. Diggle. They've made everything worth it. Oliver's mind shifts back to the blond IT girl. Felicity Meghan Smoak. She's the light in the darkness. She's the light at the end of the tunnel. The force that keeps him going. Without her, he would have died a million times over while doing his vigilante work each night.

A pleasant voice invades his thoughts. "Look around. Look around. Look how lucky we are to be alive right now." Hamilton. Oliver thinks. Felicity's favorite musical.

Felicity sits down next to Oliver, "It's okay now, Oliver. He's gone. He's not torturing us anymore."

Felicity teaches a soft, tender hand out and wrapped it around Oliver's firm jaw, forcing his solemn face to turn and meet her hopeful one. She continued, "Hey, hey... It's okay. You're okay. _I'm_ okay. _We're_ okay. Okay?"

When he didn't respond, she repeated a little more forcefully, "_Okay_?"

He nodded slightly, and satisfied, she stood up. "Let's go home," she said softly, reaching a perfectly manicured hand out to him, which he stared at for a second, and then wrapped his hand firmly around it. The strong grip symbolized many things; he trusted her. She was his anchor. He loved her. Except she didn't know that last thing. She believed that what he said to her in that mansion was purely a ruse. Their relationship was purely platonic. They were friends. Partners- work partners. Nothing more, nothing less. But even as Oliver followed her to the plane, he didn't know where he was going. Felicity said that they were going home, but he didn't know where that was. He was just willing to follow her. Wherever she wanted him too.

"Let's go back to Star City," she said. And he followed her.

* * *

Nearly a year ago, Oliver had deposited Slade Wilson back on Lian Yu, and had sat in this exact same spot, but that time, he was thinking about his life. About all of the experiences that led up to where he was. Who he was. Who he became. Damien Darkh was gone. Oliver killed him.

Throughout that year, other things had happened to. Felicity and him and lived a domesticated life back in Ivy Town, completely serene with each other and not wanting anything else, and then they went back to Star City, to being Green Arrow and Overwatch. But even before they returned to Star City, Oliver knew that he had found his home.

Home isn't a place. It isn't a city. Or a country. Or an apartment. Or a house. It isn't a favorite park bench or somewhere to go when you feel like your drowning. It isn't a place to go to find yourself again.

Oliver's finally realized this. Before he thought of his bunker as his "home." The salmon ladder. Diggle. Felicity. He finds comfort there not in the items, but in the people. The salmon ladder because he knows that Felicity is always watching him as he makes his way up and down. Diggle because Oliver knows that he will always have his back. And Felicity. Oliver loves the way she dedicated herself to her work- whatever it is. Oliver loves the way she carries herself with suck confidence. The way she's not afraid to speak her mind. But most of all, he loves the way she rambles. The way she always seems to make any dire situation seem all the more comical. Home isn't things. It's people. So now, sitting in his bunker, when Felicity turns to him and meets his eyes, holding out her hand and says "Let's go home" Oliver knows exactly where he's going.

Wherever she goes.


End file.
